American Jobs Alliance (AJA) is a labor union-aligned anti-trade organization that opposes free trade policies and supports higher tariffs and a national industrial-planning policy with the stated of creating jobs in the United States.¹ It has been largely dormant since 2017, when reporting by the Daily Beast accused AJA executive director Curtis W. Ellis of using the organization to personally profit from labor unions’ efforts to influence Trump administration trade policies. ²

Background

The American Jobs Alliance is a economics advocacy group that opposes free trade policies and supports a return to the mercantilist “American System” of tariff-driven protectionism that dominated American trade policy of the 18^th and 19^th centuries. ³ A relatively small organization for much of its existence, the AJA had a short high-profile period in 2015 when labor unions funded its efforts to oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade treaty negotiated by the Obama administration and to influence the trade policies of the incoming Trump administration. ⁴

The AJA was founded in 2011 by Dennis A. Black and Curtis W. Ellis. Ellis had been a Democratic party operative who split with the party over its growing support for free trade policies. ^{5 6}

The AJA has been largely dormant since 2016, when Ellis resigned to take a role in the Trump administration’s transition team as Special Assistant to the incoming Secretary of Labor. ^{7 8} Since Ellis’s departure, the AJA has not reported more than $50,000 in annual revenues. ⁹

Daily Beast Investigation

In 2017, an investigative report by Lachlan Markay of the Daily Beast accused AJA executive director Curtis W. Ellis of using the organization to personally profit from labor unions’ efforts to influence Trump Administration trade policies. ¹⁰ At the time of the article, Ellis was a member of the Trump administration’s transition team at the Department of Labor, serving as an advisor to incoming Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta. ¹¹

In 2015, $1,223,396 of the AJA’s $1,248,820 in expenses had been spent with “Revelent [sic] Info Ltd” of New York City, which the Daily Beast investigation noted apparently refers to Relevant Information Ltd., a company previously named “Curtis Ellis Ltd” and controlled by Ellis. ^{12 13} However, the AJA’s annual filings with the IRS did not list the firm as a “related organization” or include a Schedule J filing for Ellis’s apparent compensation for work done on the AJA’s behalf. ¹⁴

At the time, Ellis was reported to be a potential Trump administration nominee to lead the Labor Department’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs. ¹⁵ His nomination was opposed by the AFL-CIO and other left-of-center labor organizations. ^{16 17}

Ellis was not submitted to the Senate as a nominee, and died in 2021. ¹⁸

Policy Advocacy

The American Jobs Alliance opposes free trade policies, which it views as harmful to American interests. ^{19 20} It supports a protectionist system of high tariffs, combined with a robust national industrial-planning policy and a strong central national bank. ²¹

It opposed the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade agreement between Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam, and the United States that was negotiated by the Obama administration but not ratified by the U.S. Senate. ²² The AJA referred to the agreement as “Obamatrade” in an effort to reduce support for it among Republican voters and elected officials. ²³

It supported President Donald Trump’s proposal to levy a 35 percent tariff on products from companies that laid off American workers and shifted production overseas. ²⁴

AJA operates a “Boycott China” campaign that calls for American consumers to boycott Chinese-made products and for American companies to withdraw from doing business in the country. ²⁵

Many of AJA’s claims have been challenged by supporters of free trade. For example, the AJA’s arguments in Nebraska against free trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama were opposed by the Nebraska Farm Bureau Federation, which noted that rather than opening Nebraskan farmers to unfair competition, agricultural exports to those countries would be largely comprised of Nebraskan staples such as beef, wheat, and corn while imports would be for products not native to Nebraska or produced by Nebraskan farmers such as coffee, bananas, and exotic flowers. ²⁶

Funding

The American Jobs Alliance reported more than $50,000 in annual revenues in only three years since its founding in 2011. That year, it reported $356,131 in revenues that largely went to startup costs, and in 2013, the AJA reported $69,070 in revenues. ²⁷

In 2015, however, the AJA reported $1,245,493 in revenues. That year, while Ellis was involved in the Trump campaign and transition team, the Communications Workers of America labor union gave $517,249 to the AJA to support its efforts to influence Trump administration trade policies. ²⁸ Other unions, including the United Brotherhood of Carpenters, gave smaller amounts. ²⁹

The next year, after Ellis’s departure, the AJA reported just $20,000 in revenues. Since that point, its annual tax return has been on Form 990-N, which is used by nonprofits that received less than $50,000 in revenues. ³⁰

1. “The American System of Economics.” American Jobs Alliance. Accessed May 13, 2024. https://americanjobsalliance.com/content/american-system-economics.
2. Markay, Lachlan. “How a Labor Activist Got Rich off Trump.” The Daily Beast, May 22, 2017. https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-a-labor-activist-got-rich-off-trump.
3. “The American System of Economics.” American Jobs Alliance. Accessed May 13, 2024. https://americanjobsalliance.com/content/american-system-economics.
4. Markay, Lachlan. “How a Labor Activist Got Rich off Trump.” The Daily Beast, May 22, 2017. https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-a-labor-activist-got-rich-off-trump.
5. “Curtis Ellis.” Post Hill Press Curtis Ellis Author. Accessed May 13, 2024. https://posthillpress.com/authors/curtis-ellis.
6. Markay, Lachlan. “DEM Operative Rallies Conservatives against ‘Obamatrade.’” Washington Free Beacon, June 11, 2015. https://freebeacon.com/issues/dem-operative-rallies-conservatives-against-obamatrade/.
7. “Curtis W. Ellis: Trump Town.” ProPublica, March 7, 2018. https://projects.propublica.org/trump-town/staffers/curtis-w-ellis.
8. “American Jobs Alliance Inc – Nonprofit Explorer.” ProPublica. Accessed May 13, 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/274445379.
9. “American Jobs Alliance Inc – Nonprofit Explorer.” ProPublica. Accessed May 13, 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/274445379.
10. Markay, Lachlan. “How a Labor Activist Got Rich off Trump.” The Daily Beast, May 22, 2017. https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-a-labor-activist-got-rich-off-trump.
11. Markay, Lachlan. “How a Labor Activist Got Rich off Trump.” The Daily Beast, May 22, 2017. https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-a-labor-activist-got-rich-off-trump.
12. “American Jobs Alliance Inc – Form Form 990-O for Period Ending Dec 2015.” Nonprofit Explorer. Accessed May 13, 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/274445379/download990pdf_12_2016_prefixes_27-31%2F274445379_201512_990O_2016120613975724.
13. “RELEVANT INFORMATION LTD.” Opencorporates.com. Accessed May 13, 2024. https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_ny/2471938.
14. “American Jobs Alliance Inc – Form Form 990-O for Period Ending Dec 2015.” Nonprofit Explorer. Accessed May 13, 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/274445379/download990pdf_12_2016_prefixes_27-31%2F274445379_201512_990O_2016120613975724.
15. Penn, Ben. “Bannon Ally Said to Be Weighed as Top Dol Diplomat.” Bloomberg Law, May 15, 2017. https://news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-report/bannon-ally-said-to-be-weighed-as-top-dol-diplomat.
16. Quinnell, Kenneth. “6 Reasons Curtis Ellis Is a Terrible Pick for Trade Post: AFL-CIO.” AFL-CIO, May 23, 2017. https://aflcio.org/2017/5/23/6-reasons-curtis-ellis-terrible-pick-trade-post.
17. Owens, Christine. “On Possible Appointment of Curtis Ellis to Head Dol’s Bureau of Int’l Labor Affairs.” National Employment Law Project, May 16, 2017. https://www.nelp.org/on-the-possible-appointment-of-curtis-ellis-to-dols-bureau-of-international-labor-affairs/.
18. Nash-Hoff, Michele. “Curtis Ellis Loses Battle with Cancer.” The Made in America Movement, February 23, 2021. https://www.themadeinamericamovement.com/made-in-usa/curtis-ellis-loses-battle-with-cancer/.
19. American Jobs Alliance. Accessed May 13, 2024. https://americanjobsalliance.com/.
20. Peoples, Steve. “Huntsman Offers Tax, Trade Plan to Create Jobs.” Associated Press, May 7, 2015. https://www.manufacturing.net/home/news/13135183/huntsman-offers-tax-trade-plan-to-create-jobs.
21. “The American System of Economics.” American Jobs Alliance. Accessed May 13, 2024. https://americanjobsalliance.com/content/american-system-economics.
22. “ Overview of TPP.” United States Trade Representative. Accessed May 13, 2024. https://ustr.gov/tpp/overview-of-the-TPP.
23. Markay, Lachlan. “DEM Operative Rallies Conservatives against ‘Obamatrade.’” Washington Free Beacon, June 11, 2015. https://freebeacon.com/issues/dem-operative-rallies-conservatives-against-obamatrade/.
24. Black, Dennis A. “‘Follow the Will of the People’: Opposing View.” USA Today, December 9, 2016. https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2016/12/08/donald-trump-tariff-american-jobs-alliance-editorials-debates/95152156/.
25. “Boycott China.” American Jobs Alliance. Accessed May 13, 2024. https://getoutofchina.us/.
26. Olsen, Keith. “Pending Free Trade Agreements Mean Millions for Nebraska’s Economy.” McCook Gazette, July 1, 2011. https://www.mccookgazette.com/story/1741157.html.
27. “American Jobs Alliance Inc – Nonprofit Explorer.” ProPublica. Accessed May 13, 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/274445379.
28. Communications Workers of America, Department of Labor Annual Report (Form LM-2), 2016, Schedules 16 and 17.
29. “United Brotherhood of Carpenters, Department of Labor Annual Report (Form LM-2), 2016.” United States Department of Labor, 2016. https://olmsapps.dol.gov/query/orgReport.do?rptId=645205&rptForm=LM2Form.
30. “American Jobs Alliance Inc – Nonprofit Explorer.” ProPublica. Accessed May 13, 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/274445379.